Woman kept husband's mummified body in closet for 2 years

INSIDE EDITION - A New Mexico woman is undergoing psychiatric treatment after deputies found her husband’s mummified remains while serving an eviction notice, authorities said.

A search revealed her husband’s body in a walk-in closet, with a pillow under his head and blankets tucked in around him, authorities said. The deputies called in Albuquerque Police Department officers, who are now handling the case.

The woman said her husband died in April 2015, but she did not know how to deal with his death, authorities said. She was taken to a mental health facility for evaluation and treatment, police said.

“I would never have imagined that he would be laying in the closet in a mummified state,” the man’s son, Thomas Huerta, told KOST-TV.

“I try not to think about it. It is very difficult,” said Huerta, who lives in California. He said he had visited Albuquerque in October to introduce his pregnant girlfriend to his dad, but no one answered the door.

“Not only was she in there, but so was his mummified corpse,” he told the station.

The woman, who was not identified, told officers her husband suffered from chronic back pain and sometimes slept in the closet.

He had coughed up bile, but did not want to go to the hospital, she said, according to authorities.

Officials are now trying to determine how the man died, and whether the woman should be charged.

A phone message left with the Albuquerque Police Department by InsideEdition.com Wednesday night was not immediatetly returned.